1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image displaying apparatus, an image displaying method, an image displaying program and a computer readable record medium containing the image displaying program suited to successively display image data of a plurality of pictures on a screen of a display or the like.
2) Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there is a technique wherein a plurality of pictures (for example, documents, photographs or the like) are read out by a picture reading apparatus such as a scanner or the like and converted into electronic data, and the obtained picture image data of the plural pictures (hereinafter, referred simply to as pictures) are successively displayed on a display unit such as a display or the like as if pages are turned over, whereby the user can visually retrieve a specific picture (hereinafter referred to as a picture to be retrieved) in the image data of the plural pictures.
In relation to the above technique, there have been proposed approaches wherein pictures are displayed at high speed in order to improve the picture retrieval efficiency (refer to patent documents 1 through 3 below).
For example, there is proposed in the patent document 1 an approach wherein pictures is thinned out or the fineness (resolution) of the picture is set to a predetermined fineness to decrease the volume of the picture, whereby the display speed for the picture is improved. In the patent document 2, there is proposed an approach wherein the resolution for pictures is degraded, whereby the display speed for the pictures is improved.
In the patent document 3, there is proposed an approach wherein picture expansion of only a specific area showing a characteristic of a picture to be retrieved (that is, a specific picture desired to be obtained in retrieval) is designated when arbitrary pictures are displayed at high speed, the other areas are displayed blank, and pictures on which only the specific area is expanded are displayed on a display unit to carry out retrieval.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 8-077195
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-270299
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 7-271819
The approaches disclosed in the above patent documents 1 and 2 can be applied when a specific picture is retrieved in a plurality of pictures having clear differences in appearance that one can recognize at a glance. However, when a specific picture is retrieved in a plurality of analogous pictures in the same or almost same form such as slips in the same form, for example, it is difficult to retrieve the specific picture among them because the analogous picture are turned at high speed. In such case, the approaches disclosed in the patent documents 1 and 2 do not allow easy retrieval of a picture that is a target in retrieval.
when a specific slip is retrieved in a plurality of slips in the same form, that is, when a slip put a specific date or a slip in which one of items is corrected is retrieved in a plurality of slips in the same form, it becomes difficult to retrieve the target slip if the plural slips are turned at high speed using the approaches disclosed in the above patent documents 1 and 2. Further, if the slips are turned at a speed exceeding the redraw rate (the so-called refresh rate), there can occur the so-called frame drop that a picture is changed to the next picture before display of the picture is not yet completed, which causes difficulty in visual retrieval.
The approach disclosed in the above patent document 3 simultaneously displays a plurality of pictures having only a specific area which shows a characteristic part of a picture to be retrieved on a display unit, thereby retrieving the picture that is the target in retrieval in the analogous plural pictures in the same or almost the same form without being disturbed by the other similar portions of the plural pictures.
Since the approach disclosed in the patent document 3 simultaneously displays a plurality of pictures on the display unit to allow the user to visually retrieve a picture, the user has to move his/her eyes to visually retrieve the picture that is the target in retrieval in a plurality of pictures. For this, the retrieval speed largely depends on the user, the visibility of the user degrades as compared with the approach wherein the user fixes his/her eyes on one position to retrieve, which causes a danger that the user overlooks the image to be retrieved.
When the user retrieves a large amount of pictures, the load on the user is increased. In order to improve the efficiency of retrieval, it is alternatively possible to increase the number of pictures simultaneously displayed on the display unit. However, when the number of pictures simultaneously displayed is increased, each picture displayed on the display unit is decreased in size, which leads to degradation of the visibility.